im confused, what exactly do these do?

 

It is a big capacitor that stores and electrical charge. It helps maintain the voltage to the amp during peaks in the music.
A farad is the unit of measure for capacitance.

 

Mainly at lower frequencies.

 

Alright let me break it down for you. A capaciter consists of lots of metal surface area that can be charged and hold a charge for a duration of time. example: on music with a destinct beat, on the off beat there is power that is not being used so the capaciter charges during this time, the when the bass beat hits, the amp demands power, the capacitor discharges to aid in delivering the power and then proceeds to charge up. My 1 farad capacitor takes 1-2 minutes to charge fully so it can deliver power for around that long.

Get it?

 

A CAPACITOR is a device that stores electrical energy in an ELECTROSTATIC FIELD. The energy is stored
in such a way as to oppose any change in voltage. Just how capacitance opposes a change in voltage is
explained later in this chapter. However, it is first necessary to explain the principles of an electrostatic field
as it is applied to capacitance.

opposite electrical charges attract each other while like electrical charges repel each
other. The reason for this is the existence of an electrostatic field. Any charged particle is surrounded by invisible lines
of force, called electrostatic lines of force. These lines of force have some interesting characteristics:
• They are polarized from positive to negative.
• They radiate from a charged particle in straight lines and do not form closed loops.
• They have the ability to pass through any known material.
• They have the ability to distort the orbits of tightly bound electrons.

If two unlike charges are placed on opposite sides of an atom whose outermost electrons cannot escape
their orbits, the orbits of the electrons are distorted as shown in figure 3-3. Figure 3-3(A) shows the normal
orbit. Part (B) of the figure shows the same orbit in the presence of charged particles. Since the electron is a
negative charge, the positive charge attracts the electrons, pulling the electrons closer to the positive charge.
The negative charge repels the electrons, pushing them further from the negative charge. It is this ability of
an electrostatic field to attract and to repel charges that allows the capacitor to store energy.

Capacitance is measured in units called FARADS. A one-farad capacitor stores one coulomb (a unit of
charge (Q) equal to 6.28 × 1018 electrons) of charge when a potential of 1 volt is applied across the terminals
of the capacitor.

 

NOT ALL CAPS are polarized. Alot of disc capacitors carry no polarity. Typically only electrolytic caps carry a polarization. And as a side note a Diode is a form of capacitor

 

It just so happens that the juntion created by putting N-type and P-type material together creates a capacitance. It is extremely small but it is there. Which makes a diode a frequency dependent device. Run it to fast and it will become a short. Same thing goes for transistors. Their is a junction capacitance between the collector-base and base-emitter. This is what determines how fast a device can run.

So I don't think you could really call a diode a form of capacitor. It is almost like saying a capacitor is a form of an inductor because it has leads.

I won't go into the Cap discussion again.


Modified by nsxxtreme at 2:32 PM 7/19/2003